Temperature's Rising
Karen Kelley
Brava, Oct 2005, $14.00
ISBN: 0758211708

Her family consists of first responders who thrive on emergencies. Jessica followed their lead becoming a cop, but disliked the job so much she decides to disappoint her father the police chief to seek a staid 9-5 position. Thus she quits the police force to become a realtor so she can somewhat enjoy being out of the office, but not dealing with adrenaline scenarios.

New town cop Connor Richmond arrests Jessica charging her with prostitution. When Connor ignores her effort to explain what is happening, she decides to encourage him so he can look like an idiot to her dad, his boss. In spite of their misunderstanding, Connor and Jessica are attracted to one other, but neither wants to pursue these feelings. She refuses to go out with a cop let alone fall in love with one and he is not ready for a commitment. However, her matchmaking father constantly throws them together ultimately with them undercover as a married couple trying to thwart a serial robber.

This amusing police procedural romance is fun to follow due to the not in love denial antics of the lead couple; readers on the other hand know how much Connor and Jessica want each other. Thus acting like married couple is rather easy for this pair except for restraining themselves from jumping into bed together. TEMPERATURE'S RISING combines strong tension with a delightful investigative tale starring two warm protagonists.

Harriet Klausner